Chapter XIII: Part 13

Brioude, the ancient _Brinas_, was formerly a place of considerable importance. It was in turn besieged and captured by the Goths (532), the Burgundians, the Saracens (732) and the Normans. In 1181 the viscount of Polignac, who had sacked the town two years previously, made public apology in front of the church, and established a body of twenty-five knights to defend the relics of St Julian. For some time after 1361 the town was the headquarters of Bérenger, lord of Castelnau, who was at the head of one of the bands of military adventurers which then devastated France. The knights (or canons, as they afterwards became) of St Julian bore the title of counts of Brioude, and for a long time opposed themselves to the civic liberties of the inhabitants.

BRIQUEMAULT (or BRIQUEMAUT), FRANÇOIS DE BEAUVAIS, SEIGNEUR DE (c. 1502-1572), leader of the Huguenots during the first religious wars, was the son of Adrien de Briquemault and Alexane de Sainte Ville, and was born about 1502. His first campaign was under the count of Brissac in the Piedmontese wars. On his return to France in 1554 he joined Admiral Coligny. Charged with the defence of Rouen, in 1562, he resigned in favour of Montgomery, to whom the prince of Condé had entrusted the task, and went over to England, where he concluded the treaty of Hampton Court on the 20th of September. He then returned to France, and took Dieppe from the Catholics before the conclusion of peace. If his share in the second religious war was less important, he played a very active part in the third. He fought at Jarnac, Roche-Abeille and Montcontour, assisted in the siege of Poitiers, was nearly captured by the Catholics at Bourg-Dieu, re-victualled Vézelay, and almost surprised Bourges. In 1570, being charged by Coligny to stop the army of the princes in its ascent of the Rhone valley, he crossed Burgundy and effected his junction [v.04 p.0573] with the admiral at St. Étienne in May. On the 21st of the following June he assisted in achieving the victory of Arnay-le-Duc, and was then employed to negotiate a marriage between the prince of Navarre and Elizabeth of England. Being in Paris on the night of St Bartholomew he took refuge in the house of the English ambassador, but was arrested there. With his friend Arnaud da Cavagnes he was delivered over to the parlement, and failed in courage when confronted with his judges, seeking to escape death by unworthy means. He was condemned, nevertheless, on the 27th of October 1572, to the last penalty and to the confiscation of his property, and on the 29th of October he and Cavagnes were executed.

See _Histoire ecclésiastique des Églises réformées au royaume de France_ (new edition, 1884), vol. ii.; _La France protestante_ (2nd edition), vol. ii., article "Beauvais."

BRIQUETTE (diminutive of Fr. _brique_, brick), a form of fuel, known also as "patent fuel," consisting of small coal compressed into solid blocks by the aid of some binding material. For making briquettes the small coal, if previously washed, is dried to reduce the moisture to at most 4%, and if necessary crushed in a disintegrator. It is then incorporated in a pug mill with from 8 to 10% of gas pitch, and softened by heating to between 70° and 90° C. to a plastic mass, which is moulded into blocks and compacted by a pressure of ½ to 2 tons per sq. in. in a machine with a rotating die-plate somewhat like that used in making semi-plastic clay bricks. When cold, the briquettes, which usually weigh from 7 to 20 lb each, although smaller sizes are made for domestic use, become quite hard, and can be handled with less breakage than the original coal. Their principal use is as fuel for marine and locomotive boilers, the evaporative value being about the same as, or somewhat greater than, that of coal. The principal seat of the manufacture in Great Britain is in South Wales, where the dust and smalls resulting from the handling of the best steam coals (which are very brittle) are obtainable in large quantities and find no other use. Some varieties of lignite, when crushed and pressed at a steam heat, soften sufficiently to furnish compact briquettes without requiring any cementing material. Briquettes of this kind are made to a large extent from the tertiary lignites in the vicinity of Cologne; they are used mainly for house fuel on the lower Rhine and in Holland, and occasionally come to London.

BRISBANE, SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL (1773-1860), Scottish soldier and astronomer, was born on the 23rd of July 1773 at Brisbane House, near Largs, in Ayrshire. He entered the army in 1789, and served in Flanders, the West Indies and the Peninsula. In 1814 he was sent to North America; on the return of Napoleon from Elba he was recalled, but did not arrive in time to take part in the battle of Waterloo. In 1821 he was appointed governor of New South Wales. During the four years for which he held that office, although he allowed the finances of the colony to get into confusion, he endeavoured to improve its condition by introducing the vine, sugar-cane and tobacco plant, and by encouraging the breeding of horses and the reclamation of land. At his instigation exploring parties were sent out, and one of these discovered the Brisbane river which was named after him. He established an astronomical observatory at Paramatta in 1822, and the _Brisbane Catalogue_, which was printed in 1835 and contained 7385 stars, was the result of observations made there in 1822-1826. The observatory was discontinued in 1855. After his return to Scotland he resided chiefly at Makerstoun in Roxburghshire, where, as at Brisbane House, he had a large and admirably equipped observatory. Important magnetic observations were begun at Makerstoun in 1841, and the results gained him in 1848 the Keith prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in whose _Transactions_ they were published. In 1836 he was made a baronet, and G.C.B. in 1837; and in 1841 he became general. He was elected president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh after the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1833, and in the following year acted as president of the British Association. He died at Brisbane House on the 27th of January 1860. He founded two gold medals for the encouragement of scientific research, one in the award of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the other in that of the Scottish Society of Arts.

BRISBANE, the capital of Queensland, Australia. It is situated in Stanley county, on the banks of the river Brisbane, 25 m. from its mouth in Moreton Bay. It is built on a series of hills rising from the river-banks, but some parts of it, such as Woollongabba and South Brisbane, occupy low-lying flats, which have sometimes been the scene of disastrous floods. The main streets and principal buildings of the city are situated on a tongue of land formed by a southward bend of the river. The extremity of the tongue, however, is open. Here, adjoining one another, are the botanical gardens, the grounds surrounding Government House, the official residence of the governor of the colony, and the Houses of Parliament, and Queen's Park, which is used as a recreation ground. From this park Albert Street runs for about three-quarters of a mile through the heart of the city, leading to Albert Park, in which is the observatory. Queen's Street, the main thoroughfare of Brisbane, crosses Albert Street midway between the two parks and leads across the Victoria Bridge to the separate city of South Brisbane on the other side of the river. The Victoria Bridge is a fine steel structure, which replaced the bridge swept away by floods in February 1893. Brisbane has a large number of buildings of architectural merit, though in some cases their effect is marred by the narrowness of the streets in which they stand. Among the most prominent are the Houses of Parliament, the great domed custom-house on the river-bank, the lands office, the general post-office, the town halls of Brisbane and South Brisbane, and the opera house. The Roman Catholic cathedral of St Stephen (Elizabeth Street) is an imposing building, having a detached campanile containing the largest bell in Australia. The foundation-stone of the Anglican cathedral, on an elevated site in Ann Street, was laid by the prince of Wales (as duke of York) in 1901. The city is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and of an Anglican bishop. Many of the commercial and private buildings are also worthy of notice, especially the Queensland National Bank, a classic Italian structure, the massive treasury buildings, one of the largest erections in Australia, the Queensland Club with its wide colonnades in Italian Renaissance style, and the great buildings of the Brisbane Newspaper Company. Brisbane is well provided with parks and open spaces; the Victoria Park and Bowen Park are the largest; the high-lying Mount Coot-tha commands fine views, and there are other parks and numerous recreation grounds in various parts of the city, besides the admirable botanical gardens and the gardens of the Acclimatization Society. Electric tramways and omnibuses serve all parts of the city, and numerous ferries ply across the river. There is railway communication to north, south and west. By careful dredging, the broad river is navigable as far as Brisbane for ocean-going vessels, and the port is the terminal port for the Queensland mail steamers to Europe, and is visited by steamers to China, Japan and America, and for various inter-colonial lines. There is wharf accommodation on both banks of the river, a graving dock which can be used by vessels up to 5000 tons, and two patent slips which can take up ships of 1000 and 400 tons respectively. The exports are chiefly coal, sheep, tallow, wool, frozen meat and hides. The annual value of imports and exports exceeds seven and nine millions sterling respectively. There are boot factories, soap works, breweries, tanneries, tobacco works, &c. The climate is on the whole dry and healthy, but during summer the temperature is high, the mean shade temperature being about 70° F.

Brisbane was founded in 1825 as a penal settlement, taking its name from Sir Thomas Brisbane, then governor of Australia; in 1842 it became a free settlement and in 1859 capital of Queensland, the town up to that time having belonged to New South Wales. It was incorporated in the same year. South Brisbane became a separate city in 1903. The municipal government of the city, and also of South Brisbane, is in the hands of a mayor and ten alderman; the suburbs are controlled by shire councils and divisional boards. The chief suburbs are Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley, New Farm, Red Hill, Paddington, Milon, Toowong, Breakfast Creek, Bulimba, Woolongabba, [v.04 p.0574] Highgate and Indooroopilly. The population of the metropolitan area in 1901 was 119,907; of the city proper, 28,953; of South Brisbane, 25,481.

BRISEUX, CHARLES ÉTIENNE (c. 1680-1754), French architect. He was especially successful as a designer of internal decorations--mantelpieces, mirrors, doors and overdoors, ceilings, consoles, candelabra, wall panellings and other fittings, chiefly in the Louis Quinze mode. He was also an industrious writer on architectural subjects. His principal works are:--_L'Architecture moderne_ (2 vols., 1728); _L'Art de bâtir les maisons de campagne_ (2 vols., 1743); _Traité du beau essentiel dans les arts, appliqué particulièrement à l'architecture_ (1752); and _Traité des proportions harmoniques._

BRISSAC, DUKES OF. The fief of Brissac in Anjou was acquired at the end of the 15th century by a noble French family named Cossé belonging to the same province. René de Cossé married into the Gouffier family, just then very powerful at court, and became _premier panelier_ (chief pantler) to Louis XII. Two of his sons were marshals of France. Brissac was made a countship in 1560 for Charles, the eldest, who was grandmaster of artillery, and governor of Piedmont and of Picardy. The second, Artus, who held the offices of _grand panetier_ of France and superintendent of finance, distinguished himself in the religious wars. Charles II. de Cossé fought for the League, and as governor of Paris opened the gates of that town to Henry IV., who created him marshal of France in 1594. Brissac was raised to a duchy in the peerage of France in 1611. Louis Hercule Timoléon de Cossé, due de Brissac, and commandant of the constitutional guard of Louis XVI., was killed at Versailles on the 9th of September 1792 for his devotion to the king.

(M. P.*)

BRISSON, EUGÈNE HENRI (1835- ), French statesman, was born at Bourges on the 31st of July 1835. He followed his father's profession of advocate, and having made himself conspicuous in opposition during the last days of the empire, was appointed deputy-mayor of Paris after its overthrow. He was elected to the Assembly on the 8th of February 1871, as a member of the extreme Left. While not approving of the Commune, he was the first to propose amnesty for the condemned (on the 13th of September 1871), but the proposal was voted down. He strongly supported obligatory primary education, and was a firm anti-clerical. He was president of the chamber from 1881--replacing Gambetta--to March 1885, when he became prime minister upon the resignation of Jules Ferry; but he resigned when, after the general elections of that year, he only just obtained a majority for the vote of credit for the Tongking expedition. He remained conspicuous as a public man, took a prominent part in exposing the Panama scandals, was a powerful candidate for the presidency after the murder of President Carnot in 1894, and was again president of the chamber from December 1894 to 1898. In June of the latter year he formed a cabinet when the country was violently excited over the Dreyfus affair; his firmness and honesty increased the respect in which he was already held by good citizens, but a chance vote on an occasion of especial excitement overthrew his ministry in October. As one of the leaders of the radicals he actively supported the ministries of Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes, especially concerning the laws on the religious orders and the separation of church and state. In 1899 he was a candidate for the presidency. In May 1906 he was elected president of the chamber of deputies by 500 out of 581 votes.

BRISSON, MATHURIN JACQUES (1723-1806), French zoologist and natural philosopher, was born at Fontenay le Comte on the 30th of April 1723. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history, his published works in this department including _Le Règne animal_ (1756) and _Ornithologie_ (1760). After the death of R.A.F. Réaumur (1683-1757), whose assistant he was, he abandoned natural history, and was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Navarre and later at Paris. His most important work in this department was his _Poids spécifiques des corps_ (1787), but he published several other books on physical subjects which were in considerable repute for a time. He died at Croissy near Paris, on the 23rd of June 1806.

BRISSOT, JACQUES PIERRE (1754-1793), who assumed the name of DE WARVILLE, a celebrated French Girondist, was born at Chartres, where his father was an inn-keeper, in January 1754. Brissot received a good education and entered the office of a lawyer at Paris. His first works, _Théorie des lois criminelles_ (1781) and _Bibliothèque philosophique du législateur_ (1782), were on the philosophy of law, and showed how thoroughly Brissot was imbued with the ethical precepts of Rousseau. The first work was dedicated to Voltaire, and was received by the old _philosophe_ with much favour. Brissot became known as a facile and able writer, and was engaged on the _Mercure_, on the _Courrier de l'Europe_, and on other papers. Ardently devoted to the service of humanity, he projected a scheme for a general concourse of all the savants in Europe, and started in London a paper, _Journal du Lycée de Londres_, which was to be the organ of their views. The plan was unsuccessful, and soon after his return to Paris Brissot was lodged in the Bastille on the charge of having published a work against the government. He obtained his release after four months, and again devoted himself to pamphleteering, but had speedily to retire for a time to London. On this second visit he became acquainted with some of the leading Abolitionists, and founded later in Paris a Société des Amis des Noirs, of which he was president during 1790 and 1791. As an agent of this society he paid a visit to the United States in 1788, and in 1791 published his _Nouveau Voyage dans les États-Unis de l'Amerique Septentrionale_ (3 vols.).

From the first, Brissot threw himself heart and soul into the Revolution. He edited the _Patriote français_ from 1789 to 1793, and being a well-informed and capable man took a prominent part in affairs. Upon the demolition of the Bastille the keys were presented to him. Famous for his speeches at the Jacobin club, he was elected a member of the municipality of Paris, then of the Legislative Assembly, and later of the National Convention. During the Legislative Assembly his knowledge of foreign affairs enabled him as member of the diplomatic committee practically to direct the foreign policy of France, and the declaration of war against the emperor on the 20th of April 1792, and that against England on the 1st of July 1793, were largely due to him. It was also Brissot who gave these wars the character of revolutionary propaganda. He was in many ways the leading spirit of the Girondists, who were also known as Brissotins. Vergniaud certainly was far superior to him in oratory, but Brissot was quick, eager, impetuous, and a man of wide knowledge. But he was at the same time vacillating, and not qualified to struggle against the fierce energies roused by the events of the Revolution. His party fell before the Mountain; sentence of arrest was passed against the leading members of it on the 2nd of June 1793. Brissot attempted to escape in disguise, but was arrested at Moulins. His demeanour at the trial was quiet and dignified; and on the 31st of October 1793 he died bravely with several other Girondists.

See _Mémoires de Brissot, sur ses contemporains et la Révolution française_, published by his sons, with notes by F. de Montrol (Paris, 1830); Helena Williams, _Souvenirs de la Révolution française_ (Paris, 1827); F. A. Aulard, _Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention_ 2nd ed., (Paris, 1905); F. A. Aulard, _Les Portraits littéraires à la fin du XVIII^e siècle, pendant la Révolution_ (Paris, 1883).

BRISTOL, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF. This English title has been held in the Hervey family since 1714, though previously an earldom of Bristol, in the Digby family, is associated with two especially famous representatives, of whom separate biographies are given. The Herveys are mentioned during the 13th century as seated in Bedfordshire, and afterwards in Suffolk, where they have held the estate of Ickworth since the 15th century. John Hervey (1616-1679) was the eldest son of Sir William Hervey (d. 1660), and was born on the 18th of August 1616. He held a high position in the household of Catherine, wife of Charles II., and was for many years member of parliament for Hythe. He married Elizabeth, the only surviving child of his kinsman, William, Lord Hervey of Kidbrooke (d. 1642), but left no children when he died on the 18th of January 1679, and his estates passed to his brother, Sir Thomas Hervey. Sir Thomas, who was member of parliament for Bury St Edmunds, [v.04 p.0575] died on the 27th of May 1694, and was succeeded by his son, John, who became the 1st earl of Bristol.

JOHN HERVEY, 1st earl of Bristol (1665-1751), born on the 27th of August 1665, was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and became member of parliament for Bury St Edmunds in March 1694. In March 1703 he was created Baron Hervey of Ickworth, and in October 1714 was made earl of Bristol as a reward for his zeal in promoting the principles of the revolution and supporting the Hanoverian succession. He died on the 20th of January 1751. By his first wife, Isabella (d. 1693), daughter of Sir Robert Carr, Bart., of Sleaford, he had one son, Carr, Lord Hervey (1691-1723), who was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and was member for Bury St Edmunds from 1713 to 1722. (It has been suggested that Carr, who died unmarried on the 14th of November 1723, was the father of Horace Walpole.) He married secondly Elizabeth (d. 1741), daughter and co-heiress of Sir Thomas Felton, Bart., of Playford, Suffolk, by whom he had ten sons and six daughters. His eldest son, John (1696-1743), took the courtesy title of Lord Hervey on the death of his half-brother, Carr, in 1723, and gained some renown both as a writer and a politician (see HERVEY OF ICKWORTH). Another son, Thomas (1699-1775), was one of the members for Bury from 1733 to 1747; held various offices at court; and eloped with Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Hanmer. He had very poor health, and his reckless life frequently brought him into pecuniary and other difficulties. He wrote numerous pamphlets, and when he died Dr Johnson said of him, "Tom Hervey, though a vicious man, was one of the genteelest men who ever lived." Another of the 1st earl's sons, Felton (1712-1773), was also member for the family borough of Bury St Edmunds. Having assumed the additional name of Bathurst, Felton's grandson, Felton Elwell Hervey-Bathurst (1782-1819), was created a baronet in 1818, and on his death a year later the title descended to his brother, Frederick Anne (1783-1824), the direct ancestor of the present baronet. The 1st earl died in January 1751, the title and estates descending to his grandson.

GEORGE WILLIAM HERVEY, 2nd earl of Bristol (1721-1775), the eldest son of John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth, by his marriage with Mary (1700-1768), daughter of Nicholas Lepell, was born on the 31st of August 1721. He served for some years in the army, and in 1755 was sent to Turin as envoy extraordinary. He was ambassador at Madrid from 1758 to 1761, filling a difficult position with credit and dignity, and ranked among the followers of Pitt. Appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1766, he never visited that country during his short tenure of this office, and, after having served for a short time as keeper of the privy seal, became groom of the stole to George III. in January 1770. He died unmarried on the 18th or 20th of March 1775, and was succeeded by his brother.

AUGUSTUS JOHN HERVEY, 3rd earl of Bristol (1724-1779), was born on the 19th of May 1724, and entered the navy, where his promotion was rapid. He distinguished himself in several encounters with the French, and was of great assistance to Admiral Hawke in 1759, although he had returned to England before the battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759. Having served with distinction in the West Indies under Rodney, his active life at sea ceased when the peace of Paris was concluded in February 1763. He was, however, nominally commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in this year, and was made vice-admiral of the blue in January 1778. Hervey was member of parliament for Bury from 1757 to 1763, and after being for a short time member for Saltash, again represented Bury from 1768 until he succeeded his brother in the peerage in 1775. He often took part in debates in parliament, and was a frequent contributor to periodical literature. Having served as a lord of the admiralty from 1771 to 1775 he won some notoriety as an opponent of the Rockingham ministry and a defender of Admiral Keppel. In August 1744 he had been secretly married to Elizabeth Chudleigh (1720-1788), afterwards duchess of Kingston (_q.v._), but this union was dissolved in 1769. The earl died in London on the 23rd of December 1779, leaving no legitimate issue, and having, as far as possible, alienated his property from the title. He was succeeded by his brother. Many of his letters are in the Record Office, and his journals in the British Museum. Other letters are printed in the _Grenville Papers_, vols. iii. and iv. (London, 1852-1853), and the _Life of Admiral Keppel_, by the Hon. T. Keppel (London, 1852).

FREDERICK AUGUSTUS HERVEY, bishop of Derry (1730-1803), who now became 4th earl of Bristol, was born on the 1st of August 1730, and educated at Westminster school and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 1754. Entering the church he became a royal chaplain; and while waiting for other preferment spent some time in Italy, whither he was led by his great interest in art. In February 1767, while his brother, the 2nd earl, was lord-lieutenant of Ireland, he was made bishop of Cloyne, and having improved the property of the see he was translated to the rich bishopric of Derry a year later. Here again he was active and philanthropic. While not neglecting his luxurious personal tastes he spent large sums of money on making roads and assisting agriculture, and his munificence was shared by the city of Londonderry. He built splendid residences at Downhill and Ballyscullion, which he adorned with rare works of art. As a bishop, Hervey was industrious and vigilant; he favoured complete religious equality, and was opposed to the system of tithes. In December 1779 he became earl of Bristol, and in spite of his brother's will succeeded to a considerable property. Having again passed some time in Italy, he returned to Ireland and in 1782 threw himself ardently into the Irish volunteer movement, quickly attaining a prominent position among the volunteers, and in great state attending the convention held in Dublin in November 1783. Carried away by his position and his popularity he talked loudly of rebellion, and his violent language led the government to contemplate his arrest. Subsequently he took no part in politics, spending his later years mainly on the continent of Europe. In 1798 he was imprisoned by the French at Milan, remaining in custody for eighteen months. He died at Albano on the 8th of July 1803, and was buried in Ickworth church. Varying estimates have been found of his character, including favourable ones by John Wesley and Jeremy Bentham. He was undoubtedly clever and cultured, but licentious and eccentric. In later life he openly professed materialistic opinions; he fell in love with the countess Lichtenau, mistress of Frederick William II., king of Prussia; and by his bearing he gave fresh point to the saying that "God created men, women and Herveys." In 1752 he had married Elizabeth (d. 1800), daughter of Sir Jermyn Davers, Bart., by whom he had two sons and three daughters. His elder son, Augustus John, Lord Hervey (1757-1796), had predeceased his father, and he was succeeded in the title by his younger son.

FREDERICK WILLIAM HERVEY, 5th earl and 1st marquess of Bristol (1769-1859), was born on the 2nd of October 1769. He married Elizabeth Albana (d. 1844), daughter of Clotworthy, 1st Baron Templetown, by whom he had six sons and three daughters. In 1826 he was created marquess of Bristol and Earl Jermyn, and died on the 15th of February 1859. He was succeeded by his son Frederick William (1800-1864), M.P. for Bury St Edmunds 1830-1859, as 2nd marquess; and by the latter's son Frederick William John (1834-1907), M.P. for West Suffolk 1859-1864, as 3rd marquess. The latter's nephew, Frederick William Fane Hervey (b. 1863), who succeeded as 4th marquess, served with distinction in the royal navy, and was M.P. for Bury St Edmunds from 1906 to 1907.

See John, Lord Hervey, _Memoirs of the Reign of George II_., edited by J.W. Croker (London, 1884); John Hervey, 1st earl of Bristol, _Diary_ (Wells, 1894); and _Letter Books of Bristol; with Sir T. Hervey's Letters during Courtship and Poems during Widowhood_ (Wells, 1894). Also the articles in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xxvi. (London, 1891).

BRISTOL, GEORGE DIGBY, 2ND EARL OF[1] (1612-1677), eldest son of the 1st earl (see below), was born in October 1612. At the age of twelve he appeared at the bar of the House of Commons and pleaded for his father, then in the Tower, when his youth, graceful person and well-delivered speech made a great [v.04 p.0576] impression. He was admitted to Magdalen College, Oxford, on the 15th of August 1626, where he was a favourite pupil of Peter Heylin, and became M.A. in 1636. He spent the following years in study and in travel, from which he returned, according to Clarendon, "the most accomplished person of our nation or perhaps any other nation," and distinguished by a remarkably handsome person. In 1638 and 1639 were written the _Letters between Lord George Digby and Sir Kenelm Digby, Knt. concerning Religion_ (publ. 1651), in which Digby attacked Roman Catholicism. In June 1634 Digby was committed to the Fleet till July for striking Crofts, a gentleman of the court, in Spring Gardens; and possibly his severe treatment and the disfavour shown to his father were the causes of his hostility to the court. He was elected member for Dorsetshire in both the Short and Long parliaments in 1640, and in conjunction with Pym and Hampden he took an active part in the opposition to Charles. He moved on the 9th of November for a committee to consider the "deplorable state" of the kingdom, and on the 11th was included in the committee for the impeachment of Strafford, against whom he at first showed great zeal. He, however, opposed the attainder, made an eloquent speech on the 21st of April 1641, accentuating the weakness of Vane's evidence against the prisoner, and showing the injustice of _ex post facto_ legislation. He was regarded in consequence with great hostility by the parliamentary party, and was accused of having stolen from Pym's table Vane's notes on which the prosecution mainly depended. On the 15th of July his speech was burnt by the hangman by the order of the House of Commons. Meanwhile on the 8th of February he had made an important speech in the Commons advocating the reformation and opposing the abolition of episcopacy. On the 8th of June, during the angry discussion on the army plot, he narrowly escaped assault in the House; and the following day, in order to save him from further attacks, the king called him up to the Lords in his father's barony of Digby.

He now became the evil genius of Charles, who had the incredible folly to follow his advice in preference to such men as Hyde and Falkland. In November he is recorded as performing "singular good service," and "doing beyond admiration," in speaking in the Lords against the instruction concerning evil counsellors. He suggested to Charles the impeachment of the five members, and urged upon him the fatal attempt to arrest them on the 4th of January 1642; but he failed to play his part in the Lords in securing the arrest of Lord Mandeville, to whom on the contrary he declared that "the king was very mischievously advised"; and according to Clarendon his imprudence was responsible for the betrayal of the king's plan. Next day he advised the attempt to seize them in the city by force. The same month he was ordered to appear in the Lords to answer a charge of high treason for a supposed armed attempt at Kingston, but fled to Holland, where he joined the queen, and on the 26th of February was impeached. Subsequently he visited Charles at York disguised as a Frenchman, but on the return voyage to Holland he was captured and taken to Hull, where he for some time escaped detection; and at last he cajoled Sir John Hotham, after discovering himself, into permitting his escape. Later he ventured on a second visit to Hull to persuade Hotham to surrender the place to Charles, but this project failed. He was present at Edgehill, and greatly distinguished himself at Lichfield, where he was wounded while leading the assault. He soon, however, threw down his commission in consequence of a quarrel with Prince Rupert, and returned to the king at Oxford, over whom he obtained more influence as the prospect became more gloomy. On the 28th of September 1643 he was appointed secretary of state and a privy councillor, and on the 31st of October high steward of Oxford University. He now supported the queen's disastrous policy of foreign alliances and help from Ireland, and engaged in a series of imprudent and ill-conducted negotiations which greatly injured the king's affairs, while his fierce disputes with Rupert and his party further embarrassed them. On the 14th of October 1645 he was made lieutenant general of the royal forces north of the Trent, with the object of pushing through to join Montrose, but he was defeated on the 15th at Sherburn, where his correspondence was captured, disclosing the king's expectations from abroad and from Ireland and his intrigues with the Scots; and after reaching Dumfries, he found his way barred. He escaped on the 24th to the Isle of Man, thence crossing to Ireland, where he caused Glamorgan to be arrested. Here, on this new stage, he believed he was going to achieve wonders. "Have I not carried my body swimmingly," he wrote to Hyde in irrepressible good spirits, "who being before so irreconcilably hated by the Puritan party, have thus seasonably made myself as odious to the Papists?"[2] His project now was to bring over Prince Charles to head a royalist movement in the island; and having joined Charles at Jersey in April 1646, he intended to entrap him on board, but was dissuaded by Hyde. He then travelled to Paris to gain the queen's consent to his scheme, but returned to persuade Charles to go to Paris, and accompanied him thither, revisiting Ireland on the 29th of June once more, and finally escaping to France on the surrender of the island to the parliament. At Paris amongst the royalists he found himself in a nest of enemies eager to pay off old scores. Prince Rupert challenged him, and he fought a duel with Lord Wilmot. He continued his adventures by serving in Louis XIV.'s troops in the war of the Fronde, in which he greatly distinguished himself. He was appointed in 1651 lieutenant-general in the French army, and commander of the forces in Flanders. These new honours, however, were soon lost. During Mazarin's enforced absence from the court Digby aspired to become his successor; and the cardinal, who had from the first penetrated his character and regarded him as a mere adventurer,[3] on his restoration to power sent Digby away on an expedition in Italy; and on his return informed him that he was included in the list of those expelled from France, in accordance with the new treaty with Cromwell. In August 1656 he joined Charles II. at Bruges, and desirous of avenging himself upon the cardinal offered his services to Don John of Austria in the Netherlands, being instrumental in effecting the surrender of the garrison of St Ghislain to Spain in 1657. On the 1st of January 1657 he was appointed by Charles II. secretary of state, but shortly afterwards, having become a Roman Catholic--probably with the view of adapting himself better to his new Spanish friends--he was compelled to resign office. Charles, however, on account of his "jollity" and Spanish experience took him with him to Spain in 1659, though his presence was especially deprecated by the Spanish; but he succeeded in ingratiating himself, and was welcomed by the king of Spain subsequently at Madrid.

By the death of his father Digby had succeeded in January 1659 to the peerage as 2nd earl of Bristol, and had been made K.G. the same month. He returned to England at the restoration, when he found himself excluded from office on account of his religion, and relegated to only secondary importance. His desire to make a brilliant figure induced a restless and ambitious activity in parliament. He adopted an attitude of violent hostility to Clarendon. In foreign affairs he inclined strongly to the side of Spain, and opposed the king's marriage with Catherine of Portugal. He persuaded Charles to despatch him to Italy to view the Medici princesses, but the royal marriage and treaty with Portugal were settled in his absence. In June 1663 he made an attempt to upset Clarendon's management of the House of Commons, but his intrigue was exposed to the parliament by Charles, and Bristol was obliged to attend the House to exonerate himself, when he confessed that he had "taken the liberty of enlarging," and his "comedian-like speech" excited general amusement. Exasperated by these failures, in a violent scene with the king early in July, he broke out into fierce and disrespectful reproaches, ending with a threat that unless Charles granted his requests within twenty-four hours "he would do somewhat that should awaken him out of his slumbers, and make him look better to his own business." Accordingly on the 10th he impeached Clarendon in the Lords of high treason, and on the charge being dismissed renewed [v.04 p.0577] his accusation, and was expelled from the court, only avoiding the warrant issued for his apprehension by a concealment of two years. In January 1664 he caused a new sensation by his appearance at his house at Wimbledon, where he publicly renounced before witnesses his Roman Catholicism, and declared himself a Protestant, his motive being probably to secure immunity from the charge of recusancy preferred against him.[4] When, however, the fall of Clarendon was desired, Bristol was again welcomed at court. He took his seat in the Lords on the 29th of July 1667. "The king," wrote Pepys in November, "who not long ago did say of Bristoll that he was a man able in three years to get himself a fortune in any kingdom in the world and lose all again in three months, do now hug him and commend his parts everywhere above all the world."[5] He pressed eagerly for Clarendon's commital, and on the refusal of the Lords accused them of mutiny and rebellion, and entered his dissent with "great fury."[6] In March 1668 he attended prayers in the Lords. On the 15th of March 1673 though still ostensibly a Roman Catholic, he spoke in favour of the Test Act, describing himself as "a Catholic of the church of Rome, not a Catholic of the court of Rome," and asserting the unfitness of Romanists for public office. His adventurous and erratic career closed by death on the 20th of March 1677.

Bristol was one of the most striking and conspicuous figures of his time, a man of brilliant abilities, a great orator, one who distinguished himself without effort in any sphere of activity he chose to enter, but whose natural gifts were marred by a restless ambition and instability of character fatal to real greatness. Clarendon describes him as "the only man I ever knew of such incomparable parts that was none the wiser for any experience or misfortune that befell him," and records his extraordinary facility in making friends and making enemies. Horace Walpole characterized him in a series of his smartest antitheses as "a singular person whose life was one contradiction." "He wrote against popery and embraced it; he was a zealous opposer of the court and a sacrifice for it; was conscientiously converted in the midst of his prosecution of Lord Strafford and was most unconscientiously a persecutor of Lord Clarendon. With great parts, he always hurt himself and his friends; with romantic bravery, he was always an unsuccessful commander. He spoke for the Test Act, though a Roman Catholic; and addicted himself to astrology on the birthday of true philosophy." Besides his youthful correspondence with Sir K. Digby on the subject of religion already mentioned, he was the author of an _Apologie_ (1643, Thomason Tracts, E. 34 (32)), justifying his support of the king's cause; of _Elvira ... a comedy_ (1667), printed in R. Dodsley's _Select Collect. of Old English Plays_ (Hazlitt, 1876), vol. xv., and of _Worse and Worse_, an adaptation from the Spanish, acted but not printed. Other writings are also ascribed to him, including the authorship with Sir Samuel Tuke of _The Adventures of Five Hours_ (1663). His eloquent and pointed speeches, many of which were printed, are included in the article in the _Biog. Brit._ and among the _Thomason Tracts_; see also the general catalogue in the British Museum. The catalogue of his library was published in 1680. He married Lady Anne Russell, daughter of Francis, 4th earl of Bedford, by whom, besides two daughters, he had two sons, Francis, who predeceased him unmarried, and John, who succeeded him as 3rd earl of Bristol, at whose death without issue the peerage became extinct.

AUTHORITIES.--See the article in _Dict. Nat. Biog._; Wood's _Ath. Oxon._ (Bliss), iii. 1100-1105; _Biographia Brit._ (Kippis), v. 210-238; H. Walpole's _Royal and Noble Authors_ (Park, 1806), iii. 191; _Roscius Anglicanus_, by J. Downes, pp. 31, 36 (1789); Cunningham's _Lives of Eminent Englishmen_ (1837), iii. 29; _Somers Tracts_ (1750), iii. (1809), iv.; _Harleian Miscellany_ (1808), v., vi.; _Life_ by T. H. Lister (1838); _State Papers_.

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[1] _I.e._ in the Digby line; for the Herveys see above.

[2] _Clarendon State Papers_, ii. 201.

[3] _Mémoires du Cardinal de Retz_ (1859), app. iii. 437, 442.

[4] Pepys's _Diary_, iv. 51.

[5] _Ib._ vii. 199.

[6] _Ib._ 207; _Protests of the Lords_, by J.E.T. Rogers, i. 36.

BRISTOL, JOHN DIGBY, 1ST EARL OF[1] (1580-1653) English diplomatist, son of Sir George Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire, and of Abigail, daughter of Sir Arthur Henningham, was born in 1580, and entered Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1595 (M.A. 1605), becoming a member of the Inner Temple in 1598. In 1605 he was sent to James to inform him of the safety of the princess Elizabeth at the time of the Gunpowder Plot. He gained his favour, was made a gentleman of the privy chamber and one of the king's carvers, and was knighted in 1607. From 1610 to 1611 he was member of parliament for Heydon. In 1611 he was sent as ambassador to Spain to negotiate a marriage between Prince Henry and the infanta Anne, and to champion the cause of the English merchants, for whom he obtained substantial concessions, and arranged the appointment of consuls at Lisbon and Seville. He also discovered a list of the English pensioners of the Spanish court, which included some of the ministers, and came home in 1613 to communicate this important intelligence to the king. In 1614 he again went to Spain to effect a union between the infanta Maria and Charles, though he himself was in favour of a Protestant marriage, and desired a political and not a matrimonial treaty. In 1616, on the disgrace of Somerset, he was recalled home to give evidence concerning the latter's connexions with Spain, was made vice-chamberlain and a privy councillor, and obtained from James the manor of Sherborne forfeited by the late favourite. In 1618 he went once more to Spain to reopen the negotiations, returning in May, and being created Baron Digby on the 25th of November. He endeavoured to avoid a breach with Spain on the election of the elector palatine, the king's son-in-law, to the Bohemian throne; and in March 1621, after the latter's expulsion from Bohemia, Digby was sent to Brussels to obtain a suspension of hostilities in the Palatinate. On the 4th of July he went to Vienna and drew up a scheme of pacification with the emperor, by which Frederick was to abandon Bohemia and be secured in his hereditary territories, but the agreement could never be enforced. After raising money for the defence of Heidelberg he returned home in October, and on the 21st of November explained his policy to the parliament, and asked for money and forces for its execution. The sudden dissolution of parliament, however, prevented the adoption of any measure of support, and entirely ruined Digby's plans. In 1622 he returned to Spain with nothing on which to rely but the goodwill of Philip IV., and nothing to offer but entreaties.

On the 15th of September he was created earl of Bristol. He urged on the marriage treaty, believing it would include favourable conditions for Frederick, but the negotiations were taken out of his control, and finally wrecked by the arrival of Charles himself and Buckingham in March 1623. He incurred their resentment, of which the real inspiration was Buckingham's implacable jealousy, by a letter written to James informing him of Buckingham's unpopularity among the Spanish ministers, and by his endeavouring to maintain the peace with Spain after their departure. In January 1624 he left Spain, and on arriving at Dover in March, Buckingham and Charles having now complete ascendancy over the king, he was forbidden to appear at court and ordered to confine himself at Sherborne. He was required by Buckingham to answer a series of interrogatories, but he refused to inculpate himself and demanded a trial by parliament. On the death of James he was removed by Charles I. from the privy council, and ordered to absent himself from his first parliament. On his demand in January 1626 to be present at the coronation Charles angrily refused, and accused him of having tried to pervert his religion in Spain. In March 1626, after the assembling of the second parliament, Digby applied to the Lords, who supported his rights, and Charles sent him his writ accompanied by a letter from Lord Keeper Coventry desiring him not to use it. Bristol, however, took his seat and demanded justice against Buckingham (Thomason Tracts, E. 126 (20)). The king endeavoured to obstruct his attack by causing Bristol on the 1st of May to be himself brought to the bar, on an accusation of high treason by the attorney-general. The Lords, however, ordered that both charges should be investigated simultaneously. Further proceedings were stopped by the dissolution of parliament on the 15th of June; a prosecution was ordered by Charles in the Star Chamber, and Bristol was sent to the [v.04 p.0578] Tower, where he remained till the 17th of March 1628, when the peers, on the assembling of Charles's third parliament, insisted on his liberation and restoration to his seat in the Lords.

In the discussions upon the Petition of Right, Bristol supported the use of the king's prerogative in emergencies, and asserted that the king besides his legal had a regal power, but joined in the demand for a full acceptance of the petition by the king after the first unsatisfactory answer. He was now restored to favour, but took no part in politics till the outbreak of the Scottish rebellion, when he warned Charles of the danger of attacking with inadequate forces. He was the leader in the Great Council held at York, was a commissioner to treat with the Scots in September 1640 at Ripon, and advised strongly the summoning of the parliament. In February 1641 he was one of the peers who advocated reforms in the administration and were given seats in the council. Though no friend to Strafford, he endeavoured to save his life, desiring only to see him excluded from office, and as a witness was excused from voting on the attainder. He was appointed gentleman of the bedchamber on the king's departure for Scotland, and on the 27th of December he was declared an evil counsellor by the House of Commons, Cromwell on the 28th moving an address to the king to dismiss him from his councils, on the plea that he had advocated the bringing up of the northern army to overawe parliament in the preceding spring. There is no evidence to support the charge, but Digby was regarded by the parliamentary party with special hatred and distrust, of which the chief causes were probably his Spanish proclivities and his indifference on the great matter of religion, to which was added the unpopularity reflected from his misguided son. On the 28th of March 1642 he was sent to the Tower for having failed to disclose to parliament the Kentish petition. Liberated in April, he spoke in the Lords on the 20th of May in favour of an accommodation, and again in June in vindication of the king; but finding his efforts ineffectual, and believing all armed rebellion against the king a wicked violation of the most solemn oaths, he joined Charles at York, was present at Edgehill and accompanied him to Oxford. On the 1st of February 1643 he was named with Lord Herbert of Raglan for removal from the court and public office for ever, and in the propositions of November 1644 was one of those excepted from pardon. In January he had endeavoured to instigate a breach of the Independents with the Scots. Bristol, however, was not in favour of continuing the war, and withdrew to Sherborne, removing in the spring of 1644 to Exeter, and after the surrender of the city retiring abroad on the 11th of July by order of the Houses, which rejected his petition to compound for his estate. He took up his residence at Caen, passing the rest of his life in exile and poverty, and occasionally attending the young king. In 1647 he printed at Caen _An Apology_, defending his support of the royal cause. This was reprinted in 1656 (Thomason Tracts, E. 897, 6). He died at Paris on the 16th of January 1653.

He is described by Clarendon as "a man of grave aspect, of a presence that drew respect, and of great parts and ability, but passionate and supercilious and too voluminous a discourser in council." His aim was to effect a political union between England and Spain apart from the religious or marriage questions--a policy which would probably have benefited both English and European interests; but it was one understood neither in Spain nor in England, and proved impracticable. He was a man of high character, who refused to compound with falsehood and injustice, whose misfortune it was to serve two Stuart sovereigns, and whose firm resistance to the king's tyranny led the way to the great movement which finally destroyed it. Besides his _Apology_, he was the author of several printed speeches and poems, and translated _A Defence of the Catholic Faith_ by Peter du Moulin (1610). He married Beatrix, daughter of Charles Walcot, and widow of Sir John Dyve, and besides two daughters left two sons, George, who succeeded him as 2nd earl of Bristol, and John, who died unmarried.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best account of Bristol will be found in the scattered notices of him in the _Hist. of England_ and of the _Civil War_, by S. R. Gardiner, who also wrote the short sketch of his career in the _Dict. of Nat. Biog._, and who highly eulogizes his character and diplomacy. For lives, see _Biographia Britannica_ (Kippis), v. 199; Wood's _Ath. Oxon._ (Bliss), iii. 338; D. Lloyd's _Memoires_ (1668), 579; Collins's _Peerage_ (Brydges, 1812), v. 362; Fuller's _Worthies_ (Nichols, 1811), ii. 412; H. Walpole's _Royal and Noble Authors_ (Park, 1806), iii. 49; also Clarendon's _Hist of the Rebellion_, esp. vi. 388; _Clarendon State Papers_ and _Cal. of Cl. State Papers_; _Old Parliamentary History_; _Cabala_ (1691; letters); Camden Soc., _Miscellany_, vol. vi. (1871); _Defence of his Spanish Negotiations_, ed. by S.R. Gardiner; _Somers Tracts_ (1809), ii. 501; _Thomason Tracts_ in Brit. Museum; _Hardwicke State Papers_, i. 494. The MSS. at Sherborne Castle, of which a selection was transcribed and deposited in the Public Record Office, were calendared by the Hist. MSS. Commission in _Rep._ viii. app. i. p. 213 and 10th _Rep._ app. i. p. 520; there are numerous references to Bristol in various collections calendared in the same publication and in the _Cal. of State Papers, Dom. Series_; see also _Harleian MSS._, Brit. Mus. 1580, art. 31-48, and _Add. MSS._ indexes and calendars.

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[1] _I.e._ in the Digby line; for the Herveys see above.

BRISTOL, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the central part of the state, about 16 m. S.W. of Hartford. It has an area of 27 sq. m., and contains the village of Forestville and the borough of Bristol (incorporated in 1893). Both are situated on the Pequabuck river, and are served by the western branch of the midland division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, and by electric railway to Hartford, New Britain and Terryville. Pop. (1890) 7382; (1900) 9643, including that of the borough, 6268 (1910) 13,502 (borough, 9527). Among the manufactures of the borough of Bristol are clocks, woollen goods, iron castings, hardware, brass ware, silverplate and bells. Bristol clocks, first manufactured soon after the War of Independence, have long been widely known. Bristol, originally a part of the township of Farmington, was first settled about 1727, but did not become an independent corporation until the formation, in 1742, of the first church, known after 1744 as the New Cambridge Society. In 1748 a Protestant Episcopal Church was organized, and before and during the War of Independence its members belonged to the Loyalist party; their rector, Rev. James Nichols, was tarred and feathered by the Whigs, and Moses Dunbar, a member of the church, was hanged for treason by the Connecticut authorities. Chippen's Hill (about 3 m. from the centre of the township) was a favourite rendezvous of the local Loyalists; and a cave there, known as "The Tories' Den," is a well-known landmark. In 1785 New Cambridge and West Britain, another ecclesiastical society of Farmington, were incorporated as the township of Bristol, but in 1806 they were divided into the present townships of Bristol and Burlington.